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Anck-Su-Namun
Anck-Su-Namun was the mistress of Pharaoh Seti I. She began an affair with the High Priest of Osiris, Imhotep, which was forbidden because no other man was allowed to touch her. Biography Anck-Su-Namun was born in Thebes during the 13th Century B.C. She was the concubine and fiance of the Pharaoh Seti I in the year 1290 B.C, undergoing substantial transformations in the centuries that followed, being brought back from the dead and being reborn into the world, respectively, each time to meet her end. Conspiring Originally in service to Pharaoh Seti I as his concubine and future wife, the beautiful Anck-Su-Namun was meant to be with the Pharaoh and the Pharaoh alone. As a security measure, he had Anck-Su-Namun's body covered in gold paint. A rival of Anck-Su-Namun was the Pharaoh's daughter, Nefertiri, who dueled against Anck-Su-Namun with knives in a match set in honor of the Pharaoh. Commending the efforts of both women, Seti announced to his court that she was to be his future wife, who he said would be reliable in protecting him from any conspirators in his court. Anck-Su-Namun had then been entrusted with the duty of instructing Nefertiri in the art of knife-dueling. Anck-Su-Namun secretly had a relationship with the High Priest of Osiris, Imhotep, and for their love, it was said, they were willing to risk life itself. Anck-Su-Namun knew, as did Imhotep, that she could never be free from her role as a concubine unless the Pharaoh was dead, and his son might act as successor. As a result of this, Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun conspired to murder the Pharaoh. One night, in Anck-Su-Namun's residence, they kissed passionately, and Imhotep recklessly smudged the body paint adorning her as he caressed her. Death Seti himself caught them both in the act, and Anck-Su-Namun proceeded to murder the Pharaoh, with the help of Imhotep. Knowing the consequences of such would be severe, she urged Imhotep to flee. Not long after, the Pharaoh’s bodyguards, the Medjai, walked in, having been alerted by Princess Nefertiri, who had secretly witnessed the murder from afar. In defiance, she shouted “My body is no longer his temple!” and committed suicide on the spot, stabbing herself in the stomach. Resurrection Shortly after her death, Imhotep was ordered to, along with his priests, perform the funeral services of the concubine, casting spells on the corpse that condemned her soul and burying her remains at Hamunaptra. Ordering the slaves present to bury the body, and be killed as they were systematically killed by the soldiers present. The soldiers themselves were murdered by the priests so as to ensure that none knew the location of Hamanaptra. Later, under the cover of night, Imhotep broke into Anck-Su-Namun’s crypt and stole her body, bringing it to the necropolis Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead. Here, the blasphemous priest used the forbidden Book of the Dead to try and resurrect her, but was unaware that he had been followed by the Medjai, and was stopped before Anck-Su-Namun’s soul could properly return to her mortal body, and her soul was sent back to the Underworld. As punishment, Imhotep's disciples were to be mummified alive, while Imhotep himself was cursed with the dreaded Hom Dai, and was buried alive beneath Hamunaptra. Second Resurrection Three thousand years later, Imhotep had been brought back to life by a librarian named Evelyn Carnahan by mistake, and Imhotep's intent was to reprise the ritual that had been botched so many centuries ago: Imhotep had, the last time, been close to performing the ritual fully, then needing no sacrifice, but after three thousand years, he needed a human sacrifice that would provide Anck-Su-Namun with fresher organs. After taking the Book of the Dead, recovering Anck-Su-Namun's five canopic jars and choosing Evelyn - Nefertiri's reincarnation - as his sacrifice, he recovered Anuk-Su-Namun's body and bound Evelyn by her ankles and wrists to a sacrificial altar within Hamunaptra. After Anck-Su-Namun's spirit and body were reunited, bringing her back to life, Imhotep was about to kill Evelyn with a ceremonial dagger when Evelyn's brother, Jonathan, came into the chamber with the Book of Amun-Ra, the only force capable of killing the High Priest. As Imhotep stepped forward to catch Jonathan, he set down the dagger and stepped forward, leaving Anck-Su-Namun alone with the dagger; the undead concubine tried to kill Evelyn with the dagger in order to complete her resurrection herself, as well as out of hatred as Evelyn was Nefertiri's reincarnation. As Anck-Su-Namun attempted to kill Evelyn, Jonathan read some incantations from the cover of the Book of Amun-Ra, summoning mummified soldiers, which he commanded to kill Anck-Su-Namun. Meela Nais In the years that had passed, Anck-Su-Namun had been reincarnated as a woman known as Meela Nais, a millionaire that had an unnatural memory spanning to things that no living person could have known. Using this past knowledge to her advantage, Meela Nais assisted a nefarious cult that had the goal of resurrecting Imhotep so as to take control of the powers that were said to come from killing off a fabled figure known as the Scorpion King by using an artifact known as the Spear of Osiris. Enlisting native diggers in Egypt and ordering the cultist group's hired guns to oversee work, the cultists began to probe around the ruins of Hamanaptra, where they would find the mummy and the texts that could bring him back to life. Recovering the Book of the Dead and the Book of Amun-Ra, the cultist group, after having run into a swarm of scarabs which were subdued by the cultist forces, had found the preserved corpse of Imhotep, preserved in a large mass of amber-like substance. Meela knew at once that the body inside of the mineral was that of her beloved, but her joy was cut short as three thieves named Spivey, Red, and Jacques that the cultists had enlisted stepped forward informing the cult leader, Baltus Hafez, that they had come back empty-handed. The Bracelet, the thieves explained, was bound for London. The cultists headed to London, taking the Book of the Dead and the mineral containing Imhotep with them, and with that they headed to the loading docks in the British Museum of Antiquities, where Hafez performed the rite that brought Imhotep out of the mineral and back to life, as a mummy. Imhotep demanded to know what year it was, and was told by Hafez that the years was 1933, the Year of the Scorpion. That said, Imhotep saw a familiar face walking towards him: Anck-Su-Namun had come back to life as well, in a different form. As Hafez told her to not be frightened, Meela explained that she was not, and explained to Imhotep in her own tongue that she was Anck-Su-Namun reincarnated, to which Imhotep replied that she was only Anck-Su-Namun in body, but after bringing her soul back from the Underworld, their love would be whole. Meela then brought Imhotep a gift: Evelyn Carnahan, long since married to Rick O'Connell, the adventurer that had helped to kill Imhotep several years back, tied up: Meela knew that it would please Imhotep to see Evelyn die, and Meela ordered the cultists to drop Evelyn into a flaming stone basin. Rick O'Connell, stopped the killing and, along with Ardeth Bay, fought back against the cultists, escaping with Evelyn. The cultist group had had its own victory, however, kidnapping the son of the O'Connell couple, Alex O'Connell, as Alex had put on the Bracelet of Anubis, rendering himself as a human map that would know the way to reach Ahm Shere. That evening, Meela and Imhotep stood on a balcony, seeing London, when Hafez informed Imhotep that the Scepter of Osiris was in the possession of the O'Connell family, but Imhotep replied that it was of no importance, as by the time that they reached Ahm Shere, the residing place of the Scorpion King, his powers would have regenerated enough beyond the need for the Spear. With that, Imhotep brought Meela's memories as Anck-Su-Namun back, putting her into a trance that made the balcony appear to her as the one in her home long ago, and London was made to appear as Thebes. Entranced completely, Meela kissed Imhotep deeply, as she saw Imhotep whole again, rather than decayed; Meela did not see, however, that she was kissing Imhotep not in his human form, but in his decayed mummified state, and that his flesh was rotting away further as he touched her. Restored Time passed and the cultists boarded a train bound for Karnak, which also transported the three thieves that were hired to retrieve the Bracelet of Anubis. The thieves had been duped into becoming Imhotep's sacrifices, from which he drew their organs and fluids. Imhotep returned to his full state, he kissed Meela deeply, and soon after, stopped to catch Alex, who had attempted to escape. That night, Alex was chained by his ankle and the cultist group had camped out in Karnak for the night; Imhotep, however, took Meela to a sacred pool within the temple where he cast the same trance from before on her, making her who she was in her past life. Meela saw herself once more as Anck-Su-Namun, and relived her past memory of engaging Nefertiri, the Pharaoh's daughter, in a duel: Anck-Su-Namun won the duel as the Pharaoh had commended both women's efforts. The memories went on in her trance until Meela had seen once more how she had died as Anck-Su-Namun, and, deeply in her trance, reenacted the events of her death, stabbing herself in the stomach as she had years ago, ending her life as Meela Nais. At that moment, Imhotep, with the Book of the Dead, summoned up Anck-Su-Namun's spirit from the Underworld and brought her back to life as the woman that she had been centuries ago. The next morning, the cultists continued their trek to Ahm Shere by camel, travelling through deserts, and as they rode, Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun rode side-by-side. The cultists first reached the temple island of Philae, then the statues at Abu Simbel, and finally, a canyon that spanned out of modern Egypt and into Abyssinia, the canyon marked by the Blue Nile. As the cult had travelled, however, they were being followed by Alex's parents, and Imhotep knew it, having seen them travel by means of a dirigible. Imhotep then summoned up a great tidal wave of water with his powers, which caught Anck-Su-Namun, along with the other cultists watching the phenomenon, by surprise. The tidal wave had brought down the balloon and its passengers, and Imhotep, assuming that his foes were finished, strode confidently onwards. Within Ahm Shere The cultists had reached the Oasis of Ahm Shere and beheld the remains of soldiers from Julius Caesar's time, along with Napoleon's troops from the previous century, all either in cages or mutilated in appearance. Imhotep knew that something was coming, but the cultists knew not what to expect, being surprised horribly when they were caught by surprise from an attack carried out by skeletal cannibal pygmies. Most of the cultists were killed by the little mummies, save for Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun, who stood behind her lover as the pygmies stood their distance from him. After some time spent walking through the jungles, Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun had reached the pyramid; the other cultists had all been killed by the pygmies or by the O'Connell family and their allies, most of whom had also reached the pyramid. As Rick O'Connell and his son had been reunited in the melee, they had run into the pyramid at once, unlocking the Bracelet of Anubis from Alex's wrist. Evelyn came after them, standing outside the pyramid, tired from their rush and relieved that they had made it. As Evelyn was caught off guard, Anck-Su-Namun snuck up and stabbed Evelyn in the belly with a dagger, killing her. Jonathan tried to help Evelyn by stopping Anck-Su-Namun, but was quickly deterred as Imhotep lifted him by his throat and threw him aside. Anck-su-Namun then walked into the pyramid with Imhotep and sardonically waved hello to Alex as she held the Book of the Dead. Soon as they continued walking into the pyramid, Imhotep stepped onto a platform that was surrounded by two large statues, both of which had used their power to strip him of his immortality, taking away his powers. Imhotep was firm in his decision of fighting the Scorpion King, but Anck-Su-Namun begged him not to go; Imhotep insisted that he could win the fight without his powers, reminding Anck-Su-Namun that if he died, she must bring him back with the Book of the Dead. Saying this, Imhotep ran forth to face the Scorpion King as Anck-Su-Namun screamed out at him in despair. After Anck-Su-Namun had waited for some time, however, she found herself face to face with Jonathan Carnahan, who decided to fist-fight with Anck-Su-Namun in order to "teach her a lesson"; Jonathan was actually distracting Anck-Su-Namun from watching over the Book of the Dead and its key, which she had left behind as she fought Jonathan off, punching him hard. Jonathan engaged the concubine in a fight so that Alex, his nephew, could steal the Book and its key, using them to restore his mother to life. As the two fought, Anck-Su-Namun took a pair of twin blades from a nearby statue and used them in her fight, slashing Jonathan in the chest, and almost killing him before he could shake her off. Anck-Su-Namun was about to kill Jonathan when Evelyn, who had just been brought back to life by Alex, intervened, shaking her off before sending Jonathan and Alex to find Rick. Evelyn and Anck-Su-Namun fought as they had centuries ago, and Evelyn fought with her fighting skills acquired in her current life as well as those from her past life. After some time had passed, both women heard that their loved ones were doing battle with the Scorpion King and ran to see the outcome of the fight. Rick managed to stab the Scorpion King with the Spear of Osiris, but the following explosion knocked Rick and Imhotep into a pit overlooking Hell. Betrayed Evelyn and Anck-Su-Namun watched as their lovers called for them. Rick urged Evelyn to flee, to take Alex and leave, but she defied this and rushed to help him, regardless of the falling rocks. Imhotep called for Anck-Su-Namun's aid as he hung onto the ledge of the pit for dear life, but not wanting to die after finally being resurrected successfully, Anck-Su-Namun fled, proving that their love for each other was not as strong as the love between Rick and Evelyn. Imhotep, devastated, then looked at Evelyn and Rick before letting go and falling to his death. Second Death Imhotep, heart-broken by her betrayal, committed suicide by dropping himself into the pit overlooking the Underworld, ending the two lovers' bond for eternity. However as she fled, Anck-Su-Namun's escape route was blocked off by another falling rock. She ran to find another route, but found herself standing over a pit filled with scorpions, which panicked and swarmed as their king, the Scorpion King, had been defeated. Anck-Su-Namun panicked and lost her balance, falling into the pit where she met her final end when the scorpions suffocated and stung her. Personality and Traits A beautiful woman that was not above breaking rules to attain that which she wanted, Anck-Su-Namun was duplicitous and conniving when the situation called for it most. With a haughty demeanor that manifested itself through scornful remarks, Anck-Su-Namun was more than capable of pathos and manifested it most when in the presence of Imhotep, whom she loved more than life itself. Through her resurrected form, Meela Nais, Anck-Su-Namun exhibited many of her traits of old, namely her haughty, near vain manner and her callousness towards others save for Imhotep. This callousness could and would often progress to outright cruelty and viciousness, driven almost exclusively towards those that dissented against her. Slim and voluptuous, with long black hair and olive skin, Anck-Su-Namun was considered so beautiful that men, regardless of their position in life, servant or guard, always turned to behold her. Seen most frequently in gold and black body paint, Anck-Su-Namun wore the coats of paint not as a personal choice, but as a security measure taken by the Pharaoh to ensure that no other man could touch her. While Anck-Su-Namun was placed under guard, she was not unable to defend herself, knowing how to throw punches and engage assailants in combat both unarmed and with blades. Behind the Scenes Anck-Su-Namun was portrayed by Patricia Velasquez in both films and was voiced by Lenore Zann in the animated series. The source of her name is most likely taken from that of Queen Ankhesenamun, daughter of Queen Nefertiti and Pharaoh Akhenaten and Great Royal Wife to her well-known half-brother Tutankhamun. Appearances *''The Mummy'' **''The Mummy (novelization)'' **''The Mummy (PC)'' **''The Mummy (video game)'' *''The Mummy Returns'' **''The Mummy Returns (novelization)'' *''The Mummy: Secrets of the Medjai'' Anck-su-Namun Anck-su-Namun; Nais, Meela Category:Egyptian Category:Females Category:Deceased individuals Category:Cultists Category:Antagonists Category:Mummies